Mesic made the statement at a ceremony marking the sixth anniversary of the "Fran Krsto Frankopan" Education and Training Command Centre in anwer to questions by reporters, who asked him about his relationship with Defence Minister Berislav Roncevic and the operation of secret services.
Asked whether secret services acted lawfully when they accused some reporters of intentionally misinforming the public about the case of General Ante Gotovina, Mesic declined to comment, stating only that he advocated lawful conduct.
Commenting on reports that his spokeswoman had also been under surveillance, Mesic said that he read such reports only today and that he believed secret services had no reason to place her under surveillance.
He said that he had to compare the report he was presented with and the recent media reports stating that some reporters were placed under surveillance by the POA during the term of former POA chief Franjo Turek.
Asked if he believed that reporters were intentionally misinforming the public to obstruct Croatia's integration with the EU, Mesic said that there was no such plan, but that reporters often presented unverified information.
Intelligence services are given tasks they must carry out, they are not working transparently all the time, but they must always abide by the law, Mesic said in response to a reporter's question.
Commenting on a remark by a reporter that the system was incapable of arresting Gotovina, Mesic said that he would not agree with the statement, but that the general could not be arrested if he was not in Croatia.
Croatia is criticised for not being fully credible in fulfilling that obligation, but now that we have intensified the efforts to establish the whereabouts of General Gotovina, I believe that we will be fully credible and that this will not affect our EU entry talks, Mesic said.
Mesic said that he had not demanded that Defence Minister Berislav Roncevic be replaced because of allegations that he violated laws when purchasing military trucks and because of his statement in which he described Mesic's conduct during the presidential campaign as "a tragicomic performance".
Roncevic later apologised for his statement. Asked if he had accepted the apology, Mesic said that what mattered were not apologies but the need not to interfere into one another's duties.
Members of the Council for the Civilian Supervision of Secret Services and the Committee on Home Affairs and National Security will visit the POA on Thursday to establish the authenticity of reports in the Globus weekly saying that five reporters were placed under illegal surveillance by the POA during the term of former POA chief Franjo Turek.
The chairman of the Committee on Home Affairs and National Security, Ivan Jarnjak, said this after today's session of the Committee which discussed the case. Jarnjak recalled that the Council had carried out an investigation in 2004 and established that there had been no illegal surveillance of reporters.